


Pepperwood Meets Night

by DreamsOfSleep



Series: Pepperwood AU [1]
Category: New Girl
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, First Meeting, Love Story, Oneshot, Pepperwood AU, Slight Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7026706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsOfSleep/pseuds/DreamsOfSleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Julius Pepperwood met Jessica Night and how they fell in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pepperwood Meets Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is me practicing character voices for Julius Pepperwood and Jessica Night. This isn't the main fic idea I have for my Pepperwood AU but I realized I needed to develop their backstory more before I start writing that (how they met, how they fell in love). The main fic idea starts after they already have an established relationship; this is just a glimpse into how they became the people they are in that fic.
> 
> To me, writing for Julius Pepperwood feels a lot different from writing for Nick Miller. He's more introverted and closed off than Nick and instead of being an underachiever he throws himself into his work to avoid dealing with his issues (i.e. He's married to his job as a PI).
> 
> Jessica Night is a lot more street-smart than Jessica Day. She's the epitome of the word "moxie." What they have in common is how they see the inherent goodness in Nick Miller/Julius Pepperwood and their love for these men makes Miller/Pepperwood see the inherent goodness in themselves too.

“Heads up, Julius,” Schmidt says as Julius walks past him in the lobby. “New secretary coming today.”

“Great,” Julius grumbles. He likes his routines and his familiar spaces and he doesn’t like new people coming in and screwing them up. He curses Mike, the co-owner of their PI firm, who said they needed a ‘cute’ receptionist to project the ‘right image’ for their potential clients.

 _‘They should look at our track record, not our window dressing,’_ Julius thinks to himself.

He takes the elevator up to the fourth floor where the firm’s main office is located. The first thing he sees when the doors open is a dame with raven hair and legs that go on for miles in a knee-length black skirt and white cardigan. Her back is to him. He steps out of the elevator.

She turns around when she hears the elevator doors shut behind him. Her electric blue eyes meet his and his heart does something weird in his chest.

“You must be Julius Pepperwood,” she greets him. Her voice is richer and deeper than he expects. “Mike told me all about you. I’m Jessica Night, your new secretary. You can call me Jess.” 

She holds out her hand for him to shake and he just stares at it, making no move to do the same. She raises an eyebrow at him and takes her hand back. “Mike told me you weren’t the friendly type.”

“It takes me a while to warm up to people,” he responds.

She smiles. “A personal challenge.”

That irks him for some reason. “It was nice to meet you, I guess. I’m going to get back to work.” He gestures in the general direction of his desk and walks away from her.

\---

He finds out that she sings…a lot…about _everything_. He hears her all day until he wants to stick pencils in his ears.

\---

She has this habit of sneaking up on him, trying to talk to him. It freaks him out. She follows him around like his shadow or an overeager puppy dog. It feels like she’s stalking him, even though it’s an open office space.

\---

She asks to eat lunch with him but he eats at his desk and continues working through lunch time.

That doesn’t stop her though. She just pulls up a chair and eats her lunch right next to him, chatting incessantly at him about nothing while he reads through documents and writes down notes, trying to ignore her.

He can see Schmidt laughing at him out of the corner of his eye.

\---

Finally when he can take it no longer, he puts his hands on either side of her shoulders and gives her a firm shake. 

“Jess…Please. Stop. Talking.” he says to her. 

He sees a brief flash of hurt go across her face before she covers it up. He feels like a jerk, but is relieved that she has stopped talking. _Blissful silence._

"I thought you needed the company,” she tells him. 

That pisses him off. “I’m married to this job. I like working alone and I don’t need you coming in and throwing your pity at me.”

“I don’t pity you, Julius,” she says quietly. 

He sees something in her face but she is already walking away from him.

\---

The next day when he arrives at work, she doesn’t look up from her crossword puzzle when he exits the elevator. He stops in front of her desk and starts talking to her even though she doesn’t look at him.

“I was a jerk and I’m sorry. You were just trying to be nice.”

“I just moved to LA from Portland, Julius. I don't know anybody in this town and I was just lonely; I thought we could be friends.”

“I don’t think you want to be friends with me, Jess. I’m no fun; I work and I go home to sleep and that’s it. You should be friends with literally anyone else in the office.”

“You don’t think much of yourself, Julius, but I can see you’re someone special.”

That takes him by surprise. “Yeah, well…you’re mistaken. I’m still sorry about how I treated you yesterday though. Let me make it up to you; want to get lunch with me later?”

She smiles. “I’d like that.”

Everyone else in the office exchange looks of surprise when they find out that he actually stops working for once and joins her in the breakroom to eat lunch.

\---

It starts to be a regular thing, them getting lunch together. He starts to joke and flirt with her when he arrives at work, letting her in in spite of himself.

\---

One day he asks her to grab a drink with him after work. Her eyes light up and she gives him a big smile before she says yes. 

When he takes her home that night, she presses her lips to the corner of his mouth. He feels the tingle of them for days.

\---

They start dating, seeing each other regularly outside of work. He looks up from his desk sometimes and sees her smiling at him and it makes his heart flip. 

\---

They sleep together for the first time after three months of dating. She takes him by the hand and leads him to her bedroom. She undresses slow and sweet for him. His hands are gentle on her. _'I don't deserve you,'_ he thinks to himself. 

As if she can read his mind, she whispers to him, “I always knew you were someone special, Julius,” before pulling him close to her.

\---

He gets in the habit of sleeping over at her place. Sometimes he has to work late and she waits up for him, falling asleep curled up on the corner of her couch.

He kisses her awake one night and says, "Marry me, Jess." 

She opens her eyes with a sleepy grin and says, “What took you so long?”


End file.
